(wishlist) selecting failsafe session becomes default for future logins, but should not

[Marc van Leeuwen]

Binary package hint: gdm

I've been unable to use Ubuntu normally for months, until I noticed that I was unintentionally using always using a failsafe session, which I had selected just once to overcome a problem; it had since become my default! It shouldn't have, that's not what the failsafe session is for. Here's the longer story

After upgrading to Ubuntu 9.10, I could not log into an ordinary Gnome session for some reason that I (still) ignore. I could however login to gdm using the Gnome failsafe option. That resolved the login problem, but there were many other problems that became apparent: sound was not working, I could not open any graphic application from a command line, except via sudo, lock screen failed, no notification of updates,... All this turned out to be because after selecting my name at the gdm chooser, the failsafe session was automatically selected; this happens in such a discrete manner that I had never noticed.

In fact the default setting is apparently recorded elsewhere than in the user home directory, because when I reinstalled Ubuntu onto a fresh disk partition while mounting a /home partition, the problem had disappeared, but the old (upgraded) Ubuntu still made me login using a failsafe session.

So please, if selecting a failsafe session in gdm, don't make it the user default, nobody wants to continue using it indefinitely.

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

I confirm this bug and working on it.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package gdm - 2.29.5-0ubuntu6

---------------
gdm (2.29.5-0ubuntu6) lucid; urgency=low

  * add debian/patches/30_don_t_save_failsafe_session.patch:
    Don't set failsafe session as default when user select it (LP: #509182)
 -- Didier Roche <email address hidden> Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:45:19 +0100